Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-03-11
THE MORALS OF THE PRESS.
Professor salter has a Good Word to Say
for Newspaper Men.
Chicago Herald

culture, In Madison Street Iheater yes.
terday morning, Professor w M. Saltel
took for the theme of his discourse "The
9 Morals of the Press" The snug audito-
; rum was comfortably filed with the usual
Sunday gathering of the members of the
society and their friends. By way of ex-
ordium, Professor Salter said that no
one could fail to look with interest on
any of the influences that effect the
character and opinions Of his fenow-men.
Our public schools are helping to deter
mine the lives of our future citizens,
( therefore they demand our attention.
: The newspaper is coming to be more
aud more the school Of adult men
and women. There are, doubtless,
multitudes who, day after day and month
after month, scarcely read anything more
than the daily paper. DeplOre this as we
may, and it is deplOTable, the fact re-
mains. If the ethics of reading were to
be discussed, and it were asked: "What
! is the best reading?n the speaker would
by DO means single out the newspaper
He would say, all the more because our
lives are so busy and our leisure is so
sCant, do not, unless you have to for bus
mess reasons, read the daily paper. but
read the news, say once week, and use
your scant leisure on other days to bet
ter and higher purpose. lie felt that any
newspaper man disCoursing on the wis
est use of time would say the same
thing. But facts being as they are, the
newspapers having such attractions for
men and exercising such an influence
over them, it becomes of immense i'm
pOrtanCe to inquire what the character OF
the influence is, how it is telling, whether
or not it is building men up and making
them better. Our aim is moral culture.
We look st everything from the standpoint
Of man. Others may be wrapped up about
the fate of men in the next world; We are
concerned about his fate in :his. To the
piOus Christian the signs of the times
relate to the fortunes of Christianity, the
growth or decline of The church; we meas
ure everything by its influence or man;
We measure the church in this way; we
ask, "What is it doing for MANI" So
we ask about wealth, about politics,
about education and to-day about the
press, what is it doing to serve man, to
! harmoniZe him, to make him q more re-
spectacle, reasonable aud moral creature
while he lives. 1t must be kept in MUD,
| first OF all, that ne Wspaper is business
enterprise. No one will say that 1t is not
! perfectly Legitimate and COmmendable, or
that the public ought not to be glad to
have its wants met as truly rs to have
houses built, or coats and dresses and
! hats made. There would be no occasion
| for making so trite an explanation were
we rot prone sometimes to look on the
press as a sort Of public institution, on
which we all have equal claims We find
men who feel WrODged because the news
Diapers will not air their hobbies, or print
the news or gossip that they are particu-
| larry interested in. But they have
no right to think so any more
than if they asked wholesale clothing
manufacturer to make a certain cut
of coat that they had a peculiar fancy for,
and he declined to do so because there
was nc general demand fol- It. Another
missppTehension ought to be corrected;
that is as to the VeracitV of newspapers.
There is a widespread impression that
! the press is not trustworthy. The Presi-
! dent Of the United States said while ago
that there never was time when news
! paper lying was so general and 50 mean
as at present. There must be some
| foundation to such en- impression. But,
as rule, the speaker felt the daily paper
| is a truthful record of what is going on
! But what shall be said for the moral in
duence of the press? At the outset he
would say that he believed the influence
of the press was vastly more on the side
OF morality than it was opposed to it.
| He did not wish to include tinted
papers published in the interest of
! the CTimi0al classes, which, in his
opinion, ought to be suppressed. Pol
| itics aside, the press is on the side of
almost every sane and healthy reform that
| is proposed in the community, and often
is the first to propose it. Our newspapers
are almost without exception cleaner and
better than our politics. They have bet
ter ideals. If the calls they make on our
city officials, and on the public generally,
could only be needed we should have
revolution in city affairs. The papers
which have least of par y character are
here the best. What newspaper in the
city does not defend the city and the pub
lie interest against the aggressiveaessS and
unscrupulousness of the corporations tnat
are crowding in upon US? If we had a
City Council of newspaper men, would
the public interest be SO easily forgotten
and public rights bartered away2 And
what services the press renders to the
public in the revelations it makes of mat |
tiers most important for the community |
to know about. Let US cast few glanCes |
at the shadow of the picture for the pur-
pose of Offering a few friendly criticisms.
1t is the public's duty to patronize the
cleanest papers. Society gossip in news
papers promoted selt-consciousness |
among the people who like to see their
names in prirt. and the existence of So
ciety columns was to be deplored. He
would like to see paper in Chicago bold |
enough to drop the insane gossip about
the lunches and receptions and where
ahouts of private personages. This
society chatter, this tattIe, gives to most
people, at least once or twice, chance
to come before the public-when they are
married and when they die; why not let
that suffice? The press is invading the
realms of private life to altogether too
great an extent. It is pleasant to believe,
as many assure US, that the tone and char
acter of the press as whole is imprOv
ing. Even the most INSCRIPTIONS sheets
are rot as INSCRIPTIONS as they were, and
there is granted TO 2e an elevation of tone
all along the line.
Killed by a Freight Train.
Special to the Gazette.
TYLER, TEX, March I0.-Last night